Technically, web design is how we create the interface of our digital products. So, many may argue that all a web designer needs to fulfill their job is design tools and knowledge that they have already embraced at school. However, things are not that easy. Let’s read on to find out which skills you need to be a proper web designer.
1. Design Tool
Craftsmen always have a set of tools. As the job descriptions listed above, a web designer must use several essential design software applications. Although it is now possible to design websites in a web browser, tools such as Photoshop, Sketch, and Mockplus are very useful tools for image processing, icon design, and prototyping. Using the right tools at the right stage will make your work more effective.
PS (Photoshop): powerful image processing for graphic and web design.
Adobe Illustrator: referred to as “AI”, is a very good vector graphics processing tool, mainly used for font design, graphic design, product packaging design, book /magazine layout, and illustration design.
Adobe After Effects: referred to as “AE”, is a graphic video processing software introduced by Adobe. In a nutshell, it is a dynamic version of PS, which is very powerful with a complicated operation.
2. Design Sense
Having a good sense of design is very important for web designers. Web design is more than just making a good-looking website. You must have an understanding of design elements such as typeset, images, and basic design principles such as layout principles, form design principles and more.
3. UX Design
UX stands for user experience, or how people feel when they use the site. To provide a good UX, you need to research your users to help create user personas (18 Free Excellent User Persona Templates for inspiration) and use sitemaps to lay out pages and content. This helps you understand the user’s path during actual site visits. Through repeated testing, a website’s design can be improved, ameliorating user experience, and thus increasing user conversions.
4. Responsive Design
With the growth of smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices, more and more people use small screens to view and read web page information. As a web designer, you should understand the principles of responsive web design to keep your web pages readable on small screens. (12 best responsive web design tutorials to get you started!)
5. Graphic Design
Web design is different from graphic design. If you are a web designer with graphic design skills, this will enhance your marketability.
6. Adobe Animate
Animation can make a dull web page dynamic. An appropriate animation will make your website more attractive. Especially for name-brand clothing, cars, film, and television websites, an animation is particularly important. Visual impact will help with brands identity and recognition.
Web Designer’s Technical Skills
With the rapid development of web development technology, the requirements for web designers are getting higher and higher. In addition to being proficient in professional skills, understanding the necessary web development language will have a longer-term benefit for you.
1. HTML
Some people might not think Web designers should master HTML, however, whether you are a developer or not, you should know basic HTML/CSS. This will help you to more easily read, edit and solve problems. However, depending on your actual work as a designer/developer, the level and scope you need to know may be even broader. In any case, you should be aware of how styles and colors are controlled and adjusted by code. These skills are extremely useful in the long run.
2. CSS
CSS and HTML are partners in website development and are the basic building blocks of web page structure and style. HTML determines the structure of the site, and CSS handles the visual appearance. For example, CSS lets you adjust colors, change fonts, or add stunning backgrounds.
3. JavaScript
With the ability to write design code in HTML and CSS, you can help render yourself more competitive by learning to program in JavaScript. As a web designer you know JavaScript, that may help you solve big problems in actual work. In addition, according to a survey by StackOverflow, JS is the most popular programming language for full stack developers.
4. Web Server Management
Most web designers think they can ignore the server, but the web server and downtime issues are inevitable. You don’t need to be a back-end expert, but understanding how a web server and its basic features work will help you solve problems faster.